New Beginnings

These articles provide important information and useful navigation tools to individuals who are struggling with redefining one or many different aspects of their lives following divorce.

New Relationship Horizons

Coping with Stress and Change
Marital separation and divorce can be two of the most difficult events in an adult's life. People develop patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that signal stress. If you are not aware of these patterns, you might ignore their signals.

Relationships After Divorce
Relationships between former spouses can be grouped into five categories. The first two are fairly positive; both parents continue to have a relationship with their children, and the disruption of the separation or divorce is minimized. In the last three categories, lack of support and cooperation between parents causes problems for both the children and the adults.

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire
Remarriages that occur soon after the dissolution of the last marriage - less than a year after separation from the previous spouse - are apt to conclude in a similar way, namely, in divorce. What would lead someone to behave in such a foolhardy manner after so recently going through the sobering ordeal of divorce? Several factors may account for such imprudent action.

Is Forgiveness Possible?
Divorce is a stressful time emotionally, financially, physically, and psychologically. It often results in two people who were once rational human beings showing the darkest sides of their personality. The divorce process may also trigger negative feelings from the past. It often seems that when trust is shattered between two people in a relationship, forgiveness can never be attained. Contrary to that, this may be the perfect time to think about forgiveness and how forgiveness could change this experience for you.

Putting Your Life Together: 15 Things to Do After a Divorce
The depth of emotional suffering of the newly separated or divorced is not generally realized. While society allows the bereaved years to adjust, the divorced are frequently expected to "pull themselves together" in a matter of weeks, unaided. Divorce results in the death of a marriage, but does not have the finality of a physical death. The vestiges of a former way of life remain to remind and overshadow a present existence. It's a hurt that goes deep and is accompanied by the doubt that it will ever heal.

New Legal Horizons

Coming soon

New Parenting Horizons

Divorce and Children with Disabilities
Divorcing parents of children with disabilities, be they emotional, psychological or physical, are typically faced with increased financial burdens in providing care for their child that now must be shared between two households. Division of care giver roles and wage earner roles can become significantly more complicated and the need for them to work together effectively after the divorce becomes ever more important.

Visitation Dos and Don'ts
For both parents and children, visitation is critical to maintaining a sense of connectedness both during and after a divorce. But in the early stages of family restructuring and co-parenting, it is frequently a source of conflict.

Talking with your child's other parent
When two people divorce, their relationship as spouses ends. But because the parent-child relationship continues, they need to develop ways to handle new parenting responsibilities. Ideally, they can work as a parenting team while keeping their personal lives separate.

Back to School: A Time to Meet the Other Adults in Your Children's Lives
After divorce, each parent will have to initiate and maintain his or her own independent communication with the school and with other organizations or persons who supervise the child's activities. Investing a few hours a year in a phone call or written questions will reap enormous benefits for you, your child, the doctor, dentist, teacher, or coach.

Summer Planning for Two Household Families
Summer schedules can present a challenge for divorced parents. During the school year, parents have already agreed on a schedule for which nights the children will sleep over each parent's house on school nights, how parents will share weekend time with their children, and when parents will spend parenting time with their children during the week. More free time during the months off from school creates a need for divorced parents to communicate and work cooperatively in addressing their children's summer schedules.

Home for the Holidays: Who's Year is it Anyway?
Holidays can be rough on families, because they bring with them all the expectations of what a family is supposed to do and be like. All of our dreams of the perfect family having the perfect dinner with the perfect guests come to bear at this time of year. There are a few things we can do to lessen the disparity between our hopes and what is reality.

Single at the Holidays
This can be a wonderful time of year but if you are approaching the holidays as a single parent due to separation, divorce or the death of a spouse your feelings might be tending more in the direction of dread than peace and joy. The following are some suggestions for things you might consider doing, or not doing, that might help you successfully survive and perhaps even enjoy the holidays to some degree.

50 Wonderful Ways to Be a Single Parent (Book Review)
Dr. Ginsberg gives practical suggestions and terrific illustrations as answers to questions that single parents commonly ask. Apparently, he draws from his long experience of working with single parents, children, and families.

New Financial Horizons

Estate Planning Considerations in the Context of Divorce
When spouses separate, in anticipation of divorce, a number of estate planning issues arise. Many spouses wish to disinherit the other spouse upon separation, to be sure that their assets pass for the benefit of the children (or if no children, to their own family). In fact, you are permitted to make a Will that excludes the separated spouse. However, the law provides protections to disinherited spouses that limit the effectiveness of Wills that disinherit a spouse.

Insurance After Divorce or Separation
After divorce or separation, you're on your own. Arranging your insurance needs is important, but you my not be sure what you need or where to begin. It's important that you work with an agent who understands your new situation. Explain to him/her your needs and concerns.

Managing Income and Expenses
Divorce creates many kinds of stress for all those involved. Potential exists for serious financial stress. Even when resources are adequate, and especially when they are limited, careful planning can enable individuals to make the best of their financial situation and avoid costly errors as they move forward after divorce.

Seven Common Financial Pitfalls After Divorce
When I first got divorced, there was a part of me that thought my lifestyle would not change dramatically. I believed that after eighteen years of marriage and raising a young family of four children, I could depend on the courts to ensure that I would have an income which would allow my children and me to remain at the economic level with which we were familiar. The truth of the matter is that you may be able to do this, but it is probably not going to be from child support or alimony.

Financial Self-Confidence For the Suddenly Single: A Woman's Guide (Book Review)
Whether we like it or not, money is important and how it's managed after a divorce can make the difference between moving on to a new and better life or becoming mired in debt and despair. Alan Unger's book, Financial Self-Confidence For the Suddenly Single: A Woman's Guide, is a simply written, self-help guide to taking responsibility for your own finances.

New Beginnings

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